9 February 2012
Professor Dudley Pennell, consultant
cardiologist at Royal Brompton Hospital,
professor of cardiology at Imperial College London, and
director of the cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) unit at Royal Brompton
Hospital, has been
awarded the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance’s (SCMR) highest
honour, the Gold Medal.
Professor Pennell has specialised in
CMR for more than 20 years and during that time has been responsible for
significant changes in the care of people with cardiomyopathies (heart muscle
disease) and thalassemia major. His research into targeting the genetic causes
of cardiomyopathy, and identifying risk factors for death and illness in
cardiomyopathy using CMR, received global media attention in 2010. New
techniques introduced by Professor Pennell have been instrumental in reducing
the cardiac mortality rate of thalassemia major patients to near zero.
Deborah Berkowitz, executive
director of the SCMR, said: “This award is presented annually by the SCMR board
for trustees for outstanding achievement in the field of CMR as well as
exemplary service to the Society. Professor Pennell has excelled in both
regards.
“He has promoted the field of CMR
around the world in lectures and research papers and led his laboratory to
international recognition and prominence in a variety of clinical applications
of CMR.
“He has also been tireless in his
dedication to the SMCR, having been instrumental in establishing the Society,
and serving as its first vice president and its second president. His
achievements are truly outstanding and we congratulate him as the recipient of
the 2012 gold medal.”
Professor Pennell has been director
of the CMR unit at Royal Brompton for the past 15 years. The unit, which is
believed to be the largest CMR centre in the world, now performs 6,500
procedures per year.
On receiving the award, Professor
Pennell said: “I am honoured to receive this award from the Society for
Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and immensely proud of my work with them over
the years. It has been my privilege to lead the development of Royal Brompton’s
CMR unit and to have had an impact on providing better treatments and life
outcomes for patients with debilitating and often life-threatening heart
conditions”.
Professor Pennell has published 350
research papers in peer reviewed journals and has given in excess of 750
invited lectures around the world. He has been editor-in-chief of the Journal
of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance for the past five years, raising its
impact factor to 4.33. He is also director of the cardiovascular biomedicalresearch unit, run by Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust in
partnership with Imperial
College, which is funded
by the National Institute for Health Research.
Read more about Professor Dudley Pennell
